Date: Fri 02-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: CHRISL

Illustration: C

Quick Words:

Gardener-wildflowers

Full Text:

(Suburban Gardener on wildflowers, 8/2/96)

Suburban Gardener-

Approaches To Wildflower Gardening

By Anthony C. Bleach

"Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin."

-St. Matthew

Two beautiful flowers blooming now are chicory and Queen Anne's lace. Chicory

has deep blue flowers that seem to last for weeks. The roots can be ground and

are apparently popular as an addition to coffee grounds in Louisiana. (I

remember the reaction to chicory in the austerity days of World War II as

universal grumbling.)

Queen Anne's lace is a beautiful feathery umbrella-like flower and must be the

most well-known flower in the state. Freshmen to any horticulture class always

seem to know it, if few others.

Both are good cut flowers, too. Always give them time to revive after cutting

as they droop for an hour or two.

Last week I was in St. John's Church, Watertown, during a service. I looked up

at the cross and then to a vase at the side. I twitched with shock when I

recognized not lilies but Queen Anne's lace. What a profound idea!

The road sides, the neglected waysides, the natural world in all its

untampered state was thus present at the sacrament. It gave it a radically

broader dimension.

The quotation at the start of this week's piece is, of course, misleading.

Making a wildflower garden or a wildflower meadow is certainly not Julie

Andrews running across the hills scattering seeds as she goes to the sound of

music. There are painstaking techniques that must be carried out through the

years to maintain a precarious balance of the flowers you want against

competing weeds. (Remember, a weed is a flower you do not want.)

There are two approaches to wildflower gardening. The first is passive, where

you let birds or the wind bring in seeds, and then you work with the results.

This means you pull out what you do not like or stop the spread of things that

were getting out of hand.

For example, brambles will need a very determined effort to keep them under

control. People who garden this way say one of the pleasures of it all is you

are always learning about the new plants that appear year by year.

There is one thing you must do and that is mow it all down in the fall - and

then rake up the dead grass. You can leave it over winter to act as a soil

cover, as long as you remove it before the meadow sprouts again in the spring.

Once the meadow has grown up again you can let this go until the end of

spring, and then you can mow areas with unsightly flowers before they seed. In

this way you are consciously and continuously selecting the varieties you

want, like daisies and black-eyes Susans. You can also change the plant

community by adding your own favorites like daffodils, poppies, irises, wood

hyacinths or fox gloves.

The other way is to cut and rake, and then rototill and start afresh; a more

active intervention. This is essential if you are going to broadcast

wildflower seeds. You can seed in the fall or spring. There are lots of

mixtures available, or you can experiment with your favorites in particular

areas. Some of the more popular ones would be yarrow, gaillardia, lupine and

coreopsis.

It is nice to put in some bulbs, but you should only consider this when the

meadow is established as you cannot rototill with bulbs in. Select them so

they bloom at intervals through the season, and plant them in September to

give them enough time to establish good root systems before frosty ground

prevents it.

If you wait until October, bulb prices will be lower. They will not bloom so

well in the first year but will then fall into the normal pattern.

There are two ways to plant the daffodils. You can plant them in clouds on

drifts of single varieties separated by a 10- or 20- foot space of grass. The

effect is elegant and harmonious.

The other way is to mix many varieties for a prolonged bloom and a variety of

colors and sizes. This gives a very cheerful and informal effect.

White Flower Farm in Litchfield has a collection of 100 daffs called "The

Works" that is delightfully successful. The wrong way is to dot them around

the place in singles, which will just look sad.

With the more aggressive approach you need to mow three times a year: once in

late June after the bulb leaves have yellowed off; once in early September;

and finally in November.

Make sure you rake up all the dead grass, as you want to start with clean land

in the spring where you can see the bulbs as they come through. Also

recommended in meadows are columbine, asters, sea holly, helianthus (a sort of

sunflower), beebalm and milk weed, whose coral red flower heads look wonderful

in meadows in Cape Cod.

Sometimes you will have to vary your mowing according to what you grow. All

the above plants will keep reseeding themselves, but some, like bachelor's

button, will die out after a few years and so you will have to rototill every

few years.

Finally, do not fertilize. A poor soil will more easily maintain the various

species in balance. Wait until the second week in August, and you can

transplant wild ferns and other wild flowers. Be sure you are not digging up

an endangered species.

It is important for you to notice the conditions under which the plant grows

naturally. Although some plants are more adaptable than others, the closer you

get to the original conditions the better. Mulch the planting spot well with

straw to help keep down competition until plants get established. Water

generously until fall, but do not fertilize.

A mixture sold by the Park Seed Company and recommended for Connecticut were

these ingredients: yarrow, butterfly weed, New England aster, cornflower,

wallflower, ox-eye daisy, coreopsis, foxglove, coneflower, blanket flower,

baby's breath, rocket, butter and eggs, scarlet flax, evening primrose, corn

poppy, black-eyed Susan and tall catchfly.

It was strange to find a new flora when I came to the states and even more

curious to find that the many plants had crossed the water long before we had

different names. For example, butter and eggs in England is Toad Flax, and

Queen Anne's lace is Cow parsley.

The American may be the older, more rural version. Roger Torey Peterson's

guide to wildflowers was my bible when I was learning about wildflowers. A

guide like that would increase your appreciation enormously, too.

I was helped in writing this week's column by a chapter from Lee Bailey's

Country Flowers - a book not from one of these insufferable horticultural

experts but by a wise gardener still patiently learning.

(Anthony C. Bleach organizes the horticulture degree program and teaches

landscape maintenance at Naugatuck Valley Comm-Tech College.)